Stop Pretending
by BlueSpiritFire1
Summary: Just a songfic about Ryou. First songfic ever, so please be gentle! Song it Pretenders by The Foo Fighters. Enjoy!


**Disclaimer: **I do not own the song, The Pretender by Foo Fighters, or the characters! I own nothing!

**_Lyrics look like this_**

_'Thoughts/Mind link conversations__look like this.'_

"Normal speech."

Emphasis on a word.

**Note: **This isn't one of my best works, and it is very disjointed, well, i think so. But anyway, It's my first songfic and it's better when you have the song playing in the background so you know the tune etc etc. Some of the versus/chorus chunks have no 'dialogue' because I couldn't think of any. Sorry if this is a sucky songfic, i know I prolly could've done better, but i just can't think of anything.

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**_The Pretenders_**

_**Keep you in the dark**_

_**You know they all pretend**_

Ryou knew they were keeping things from him, his supposed friends. He knew that the way they acted around him was an act, all pretence. Whenever he would unexpectedly drop in at the Game Shop and they were all huddled around the counter, talking adamantly about something, they would abruptly stop and wave at him; smiling there they hadn't been speaking a few moments ago. He was getting sick of it.

_**Keep you in the dark**_

_**And so it all began**_

And so, it began. The transformation that would change Ryou completely into a person no-one knew, not even Bakura.

_**Send in your skeletons**_

_**Sing as their bones go marching in again**_

_**They need you buried deep**_

_**The secrets that you keep are ever ready**_

_**Are you ready?**_

Ryou smiled as he decided what his first step would be. He was ready._**  
**_

_**I'm finished making sense**_

Ryou had gone to the mall after school, wallet laden with cash. Bakura wondered what was going on, confusion plain on his face.

_**Done pleading ignorance**_

Ryou returned home later than usually and immediately went to his room, arms heavy with bags. He cleared out the closet, casting thee clothes aside to the floor where they lay crumbled, before filling them with darker outfits. He stepped back and smirked. No more Mr Nice Guy.

_**That whole defence**_

He stared at the flames as he burnt them in the yard, the spirit watching on with glee. He was finished with being the little innocent one that always got caught up in the mess, of left out and excluded from it all. If they weren't planning to change, he would.

_**Spinning infinity**_

He walked to school the next day, his usual jeans, light blue hoodie and white shirt replaced by a much...different outfit. He wore black boots, dark grey pants, a crimson red shirt that had some clever slogan written on it and a long black coat that he'd found stashed in the house. It was no surprise that Bakura was the one to guide him to it. And of course, he wore the Millennium Ring, but this time, it wasn't stashed underneath his shirt. It was out for the whole world to see.

_**Boy the wheel is spinning me**_

Yugi and the group noticed this 'new look' and mistook it completely for someone else.

_**It's never ending, never ending**_

Ryou's walk was stopped by a group of very cold and stony-faced familiar people. "And what are you doing in Ryou's body, Tomb Robber? Release him immediately before I banish you!"

_**Same old story**_

Ryou stiffened and turned to the boy that was clearly not Yugi and glared at him.

_**What if I say I'm not like the others?**_

"Oh, but you're wrong. This isn't Bakura. This is me**.** That's right. I'm no longer the Ryou you know,"

_**What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?**_

"And I will no longer be like your other...pawns, following you around like some lost puppy." Ryou spat, indicating to Joey, Tea and Tristan

_**You're the pretender**_

"You pretended to care about me, to be my friends, but the truth is, none of you ever did. I am the one who harbours the 'evil' spirit, and you all hate me for it. Don't deny the truth. You've denied me the friendship I craved. Now I'm my own man."

_**What if I say that I will never surrender?**_

"I'll never join you, or even lift a finger to aid you again. You've just lost yourselves a very important ally." With that, Ryou walked around the, black coat swirling in his wake, a very satisfied smirk on his face.

_**What if I say I'm not like the others?**_

_**What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?**_

_**You're the pretender**_

_**What if I say that I will never surrender? **_

_**In time or so I'm told**_

"_I like this new change in you hikari, but tell me, what inspired it?"_ Bakura finally asked from the ring.

_**I'm just another soul for sale, oh well.**_

After a few minutes of silence Ryou finally answered. "I was sick and tired of wasting my life trying to do things to help them when they ignored me. I've been trying to fight you, so they would be safe, but they don't even acknowledge me anymore. So I thought, 'They don't give a damn, so I'm going to live my life the way I want to, not to please them.' Anyway, I'm just a soul that you're using to get to the Items; I might as well live out my life the way I want to,"

_**The page is out of print, we are not permanent**_

"Either way, I'm a dead man. That's decided."

_**We're temporary, temporary**_

"I'm a temporary piece in the game of yours. I've learned that. Even you aren't permanent. Even if you manage to stay a spirit forever, the Ring will crumble away. I bet being alone forever would get pretty lonely too, so you might be driven mad."

_**Same old story**_

"But know this Bakura. I want more freedom in my own body. If you won't allow me that, I'll fight you even inch of the way, but not to help them. Not anymore."

_**What if I say I'm not like the others?**_

_**What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?**_

_**You're the pretender**_

_**What if I say that I will never surrender?**_

_**What if I say I'm not like the others?**_

Bakura smirked slightly. _"I'm not like the other yami's, and you of all people should know that I do not tolerate defiance."_

_**What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?**_

"Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do? You can't kill me, and quite frankly, I can take anything you hurl at me. I want my freedom, and I'm going to get it one way or another."

_**You're the pretender**_

"I may be a game-piece, but I'm a very _important_ game-piece. I know that, so don't pretend that I'm nothing."

_**What if I say that I will never surrender?**_

"I'll NEVER surrender to you, or anyone else. Not now and not ever." Ryou spat, leaving a very confused spirit standing on the sidewalk.

_**I'm the voice inside your head you refuse to hear**_

Ryou kept hearing Bakura, all the way home, but it was background noise. His incessant rambling and demands. Ryou refused to even acknowledge his presence.

_**I'm the face you have to face, mirroring' your stare**_

He looked in the mirror when he got into his apartment and put down his keys. Bakura popped up and scowled at him. Ryou scowled right back.

_**I'm what's left, I'm what's right, I'm the enemy**_

"Ryou, I'm all you've got left. Don't turn away from me. You know I'm right, but you still see me as your enemy."

_**I'm the hand that'll take you down, bring you to your knees**_

"I _can_ destroy you, with a snap of my fingers." As if to demonstrate, the mirror Bakura snapped his fingers, and Ryou was immediately forced onto his knees, a dull aching throbbing from his legs.

_**So you are you? Yeah, who are you?**_

_**Yeah who are you? Yeah who are you?**_

"But it wouldn't be fun to destroy this new you. There's too much to find out. Just think about who you are Ryou. Who you _really_ are. I'm not leaving you though." With that, Bakura faded from the mirror and back into the Ring.

_**Keep you in the dark you know they all pretend**_

That night, Ryou dreamt of everyone he'd ever been 'friends' with. _'Lies. All of it.'_ He hissed, as they all disappeared. Except one.

_**What if I say I'm not like the others?**_

"I told you Ryou, I'm not like them. I'm here for good." Bakura said a tiny drop of empathy in his voice.

_**What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?**_

"True, I gained you to further help me in my plot to seize the Millennium Items, but we found each other for another reason."

_**You're the pretender**_

"Don't say that you haven't felt better since I've arrived. You're no longer alone. Not even when everyone else is gone." Bakura said, gesturing around him to the empty space.

_**What if I say that I will never surrender?**_

"You say that you'll never give in to me. I say I'll never give up on you."

_**What if I say I'm not like the others?**_

_**What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?**_

_**You're the pretender**_

_**What if I say that I will never surrender?**_

_**What if I say I'm not like the others?**_

_**(Keep you in the dark)**_

Ryou looked at his yami, exasperated. "But how can you say that? You always keep me out of the loop! I feel like I'm stuffed into a box whenever you take over my body! I don't even remember what happens!" Ryou shouted

_**What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?**_

_**(You know they all pretend)**_

"How do I know that you're not lying to me too? How can I even begin to believe what you say to me? Why should I?" Ryou snarled and lunged at Bakura who easily dodged. "I'm not going to be one of those people you have, eating out of your palm, you parasite!" Ryou shouted, running at Bakura again.

_**You're the pretender**_

"Ryou, stop this! This isn't you. I know this isn't you, so stop trying to be someone you're not!" Bakura barked, grabbing the teen's wrist and twisting his arm around his back.

_**What if I say that I will never surrender?**_

"Just because I've changed, it doesn't mean you have the right to accuse me of not being me!" Ryou hissed, in anger and pain.

_**What if I say I'm not like the others?**_

_**(Keep you in the dark)**_

Bakura released Ryou's wrist and grabbed him by the shoulders, spinning him around to look him in the eye. "Ryou, the only reason I do those things is so you don't have to see it. You wouldn't be able to handle it. I'm not saying you would be a wimp or throw up, but the results are not something you would want. Nightmares, all the time. Perhaps not at first, but eventually they'll feed off you, build upon your fears. I don't get bothered by it because I've done horrible things already. I'm used to it."

_**What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?**_

_**(You know they all pretend)**_

"I'm not lying to you. When have I ever lied to you? I may have refrained from telling you everything, I may have twisted my words, but I've never lied. I don't intend to start that now. I don't expect you to trust me. You may begin to, much, much later, or perhaps not at all, but I hope that you will be able to in time. As for why...that's entirely up to you. Why do you think I should be trusted?"

_**You're the pretender**_

"Bakura, please, don't ever lie to me. I need to know that there's still someone honest in my life. Not necessarily decent, but someone who can speak the truth. Right now, I really hope you're telling me the truth, because I can't tell anymore." Ryou said, his eyes finally spilling with tears. Suddenly their mind link opened and a flood of emotions crashed into Bakura. Ryou had almost always been able to keep his emotional barriers up, but now he just couldn't. Bakura could see that as he looked at the boy in front of him, crying silently

_**What if I say that I will never surrender?**_

Bakura sighed and for a moment, Ryou thought he would break out into mad laughter and say that it was all some joke. Bakura did nothing of the sort. Instead, he pulled Ryou into a hug, which kinda scared Ryou, but he accepted it none the less. Ryou rested his head on Bakura's shoulder, arms brought up between them and slightly clinging Bakura's shirt as Ryou shed his tears. Bakura stroked his fluffy white hair and rubbed his back in soothing strokes. "I'll never lie to you Ryou." He whispered. "And I'll never abandon you."

_**So who are you? Yeah who are you?**_

_**Yeah who are you?**_

___'Just who are you Bakura? Everytime I think i've got you figured, you surprise me with something new.' 'That, my little hikari, is something you'll have to work very hard to find out. But for now, just be calm, and try to figure out who you are.'_

___

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**Yaay...sappy endings all around! I really had NO CLUE where this was going, feel free to say WTF. I think it's more than a little jittery**

**Anyway, R&R as always, i appreciate the feedback. This one came out like, a day after my Sharing Your Nightmares one, these are just floating off my fingertips and i'm going nuts writing. **

**Bope you all liked, or at least understood, it. Remember, FIRST. SONGFIC. EVER. So please, bear that in mind.  
**


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